UIS and AGROSAVIA Strengthen Plant Health in Colombia with Cutting-Edge Technology

Bucaramanga, Santander. February 16, 2026. In a joint effort to safeguard food security and enhance the competitiveness of Colombia’s agricultural sector, Universidad Industrial de Santander (UIS) and Corporación colombiana de investigación agropecuaria (AGROSAVIA), through the La Suiza Research Center, announced the launch of the highly specialized diploma program: Tools for the Identification of Insect Pests and Plant Pathogens.

This strategic alliance emerges in response to current phytosanitary challenges, where the rapid identification of biological threats is crucial to prevent massive economic losses in the agricultural sector. The program not only brings together UIS’s academic excellence and AGROSAVIA’s research capabilities, but also introduces integrative taxonomic methods that combine classical morphology with state-of-the-art biotechnology.

Dr. Diego Alejandro Zárate Caicedo, Director of AGROSAVIA’s La Suiza Research Center, emphasized that “the strategic partnership with UIS enables the integration of scientific and academic capacities to train specialized human talent capable of addressing current sector challenges, such as climate variability that triggers production losses.”

According to Sergio Andrés Marchant Rojas, Professor at the School of Biology of UIS, “this diploma program strengthens the competitive profile of participants by addressing a key technical limitation: traditional morphological identification is insufficient when dealing with cryptic species or species complexes with highly similar morphological characteristics.”

 

Comprehensive Approach to Plant Health

The diploma program will cover four main components:

• Introduction to the identification of the major groups affecting crops (insects, fungi, bacteria, and nematodes). Modern identification methods integrating morphological characteristics and molecular analyses will be presented, along with basic principles of field sampling.
• Phytopathogenic fungi: This module will include laboratory techniques such as isolation, pathogenicity tests, and molecular tools (PCR and sequencing).
• Insect pests: Participants will recognize the main groups of agricultural importance, their life cycles, and the type of damage they cause. Both morphological and molecular identification methods will be addressed, including DNA barcoding.
• Phytoparasitic nematodes: Analysis of the morphology of nematodes affecting crops. It will include soil extraction techniques, pathogenicity tests, and molecular identification.

 

Practical Training and Schedule

The program combines conceptual foundations with an optional in-person practical component (June 22–27), during which participants will engage in an immersive experience in the laboratories of AGROSAVIA and UIS Guatiguará.

 

Key Dates for 2026:

• Group 1: Begins March 15 (payment deadline: March 10).
• Group 2: Begins April 15 (payment deadline: April 10).

 

Marchant Rojas also stated that, for sector professionals, “this program represents an essential knowledge update to remain competitive in a market that demands precision, enabling a transition toward an integrative taxonomy that combines classical observation with advanced molecular tools such as DNA barcoding. This competence is vital both for biologists, who must conduct rigorous biodiversity inventories, and for agronomists, who need to accurately identify pests, diseases, and vectors to ensure plant health and compliance with standards in international markets.”

Dr. Zárate concluded, “as we strengthen this human capital with modern diagnostic tools, we also contribute to consolidating a more robust and efficient national phytosanitary surveillance network capable of promptly containing emerging threats.”

The diploma program is aimed at professionals, academics, and senior-level students in agronomy, biology, and related fields. Interested individuals will find further details at: https://salamuseo-uis.github.io/diplomado-identificacion